Surroundings play a dominant role in shaping our experience. I treasure the city and try to make space for quiet contemplation within it. The question of the struggle between nature and the built environment is ever more central in urban life. In this series, relaxed beach-goers find themselves amidst carefully composed urban settings in front of dramatic skies. They are searching without seeming to find what they are looking for. Peaceful moments of strolling along the beach or standing listening to the waves while choosing the perfect spot to sit down, are inevitably infused with tension and frustration. The beach becomes rising tides, threatening the very foundation of the city. The clash of nature and city results in an absurd profusion of visual noise and little relief. The resulting images lay bare the illusory nature of my urban fantasy and the problematic nature of the future that lies ahead for humanity.

During the isolation resulting from the pandemic, family has taken on a new centrality. I am led to wonder why our connections to our ancestors and our descendants often feel stronger than connections to those around us. I often wish the people who are meaningful to me could actually meet. That my grandparents could see me all grown up, or see my children. With these images, generations meet. My grandfather sits on the front stoop with the great grandson named in his memory, and my mother, as her younger healthy self, enjoys her grandchildren becoming adults. They give form to longed for meetings. These images are, in many ways, self portraits. I exist in the tension of the space between those who came before me and those who will come after. Their longing makes real those things that I hold dear.

For the last eleven months the world has been in the grip of a health crisis unlike any experienced in our lifetime. “I Dreamed” is a series of shadow boxes through which I explore the feeling of being trapped at home while struggling to find joy and hope. During the pandemic we have been locked down, our movement has been restricted, and travel has come to a standstill. For months I have barely left my home. I feel a little crazy at times and struggle to hold onto ways to find pleasure.
But we are all able to dream and take ourselves away, which is what this series hopes to accomplish.